King King Reaching For The Light

When the Doors were playing at the Matrix club in San Francisco on March 7 and March 10 of 1967, unofficial tapes were made of their performances. Music from four sets (two each night) of these gigs has long been available on bootleg, and a couple tracks did show up on the Doors' 1997 box set. This two-CD package, however, marks the first official release of material from these shows in bulk…

This 45-minute mini-set captures the quartet - Adrian Belew (guitar/vocals), Robert Fripp (guitar), Trey Gunn (Warr guitar), and Pat Mastelotto (percussion) - thrashing out some of the most intense and rhythmically diverse sounds to ever bear the King Crimson moniker. Likewise, Level Five reveals a band reaching for and obtaining new levels of soul - a quality sorely absent in the " alternative" rock of the early 21st century. A majority of the instrumental material makes its debut release on this disc. However, "The ConstruKction of Light" and "The Deception of the Thrush" date as far back as the ProjeKcts - five unique incarnations of King Crimson circa the mid-'90s. These various ProjeKcts toured, recorded, and rehearsed, finally settling into the reformed quartet heard here…

For Steve Hackett, his 26th studio album (a remarkable statistic of itself) is far more than merely a collection of quality tracks. It goes a lot deeper than this. “I love experimenting with sounds and ethnic instruments, and thereby taking my ideas into other musical territories, to go where I have not artistically been before. This is essentially British music but it's being developed in foreign soil, as it were.” 'At The Edge Of Light' represents the master guitarist's commitment and passion for a global perspective on the music he writes and performs.

The Stanley Brothers - The King Years 1961-1965 (2003) {4CD Collector's Box Set, King Records KG-0950-2}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.64 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 671 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 105 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1961-65, 2003 King Records | KG-0950-2
Bluegrass / Country / Traditional Bluegrass

Virginians Ralph and Carter Stanley, the Stanley Brothers, took the traditional Appalachian string band songs of their home and updated them into a traditionally rooted modern bluegrass sound that was singular for its authentic tone, no-frills simplicity, and at times haunting and astonishing beauty, the very model of the high lonesome sound. This expansive four-disc, 111-track box covers the later part of the middle period of their recording career, collecting virtually every side the brothers recorded for the King record label between 1961 and 1965. That's a whole lot of Stanley Brothers, but the musical quality, integrity, and execution of this storied duo never waver here, and indeed, they never really did waver one bit any time the two of them stepped in front of the microphones.

The key components to every great prog-rock album comprise memorable guitar riffs, punchy immediacy that draws you into the song, ample rhythmic kick, and the imaginative capacity to transport the listener to a place well beyond the confines of reality. Yes’ The Yes Album features all of these rare qualities and more, the 1971 record as significant for saving the band’s career as well as for establishing new parameters in virtuosic technicality and skilled composition. The first set recorded with guitarist Steve Howe, it remains Yes’ grandest achievement and claims a musical vision the British quintet’s contemporaries struggled to match…